The essay was written about 1991, but like some of my others, I opted not to release it.

Like other pages in this section, these are old essays and a work in process. I have about 10 parts to this treatise I wrote.

Due to its antiquity, the flow of this page, such as images, breaks, corrections, etc., are going to take time to reproduce or add. But for the time being, this is very readable compared to my earlier pre-IBM 286 essays.

To give you an idea on this information technology–these essays required extraction from Avagio format copied over from 5.25 flexible to 3.5 in disks. (Avagio is a pre-WordPerfect publishing software bought by WordPerfect and later Corel) .

To use an overused segue – – My how time flies!

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Only the Best . . .

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the History of Cannabis use as a Medicine

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Introduction

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Cannabis has a long served as a medicine. Ever since its first discovery, it has played numerous vital roles in the evolution of mankind. First and foremost, Cannabis was an important fiber-textile producer thus assuring survival in the ever-changing climate. These hemp fiber products also enabled both primitive and advanced hunter-fisher-gatherer communities to produce bows for their arrows, traps and nets for hunting and fishing, and cordage for assorted general uses. Early man also benefited from the seed of Cannabis. It was edible and contained a valuable oil which served as a valuable illuminant. Later, as chemical production techniques were improved, even primitive societies were able to take full advantage of this natural product using it to produce soaps, cosmetics and medicines. The remaining parts of Cannabis–its leaf and resin–came to serve both as a drug and as a vehicle towards making future discoveries through the practice of shamanism.

In some societies, the use of Cannabis as a shaman’s tool was its most vital role. With Cannabis, he or she obtained insight not only into life, but also into how to treat his/her people. It is said that the shamanic experience very often requires that moment or experience in another place or way of being. To some, the cannabis such an early mystic may have discovered would have given important meaning to life and enabled the shaman to pay closer attention to such this as new foods and new water sources.

Important medicines and arrow poisons were also developed due to Cannabis, along with certain forms of new artistry and new even the clothing and twine needed to raise a new place to stay.

By reviewing the history of Cannabis and its ethnobotany from the origins of mankind to recent times, one develops a better view of present day uses for Cannabis as well as numerous other botanicals that are under-utilized and under-studied. Cannabis is just an example of one of many plants that throughout evolution and history of the earth and mankind, both have come to rely upon.

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Section 1. Cannabis in Early Medicine and Shamanism

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Interest in Cannabis was probably born in communities where shamanism played an important tole in local philosophical and religious doctrines. Cultures learning of it made ample use of it as a medicine when it was native to their lands. Still others perhaps bartered for it. And although many people knew of its spiritual effects, most of the early Cannabis-users did not smoke it. Rather, they relied upon its use as a source for fiber. If these used as a medicine, they made concoctions of its roots, stems and even the entire plant. Still others simply added it to their diet.

Still, for the last century or two, we have most often argued since shamanism represents the heart of herbal medicine, that cannabis must have played a role in herbal medicine as well. With little knowledge of herbs, minerals and animal parts and not knowing exactly if and how they worked as healing agents, aboriginal cultures had only their personal beliefs to rely upon as they tried to cure individual health problems or community epidemics. To accomplish this, some Shamans used tokens including those made from plant parts to carry out their tasks which in some cases, resembled an animal, god, goddess or spirit. In other cases they administered medicines that resembled the person they were treating or in some way reminded them of the illness. Greek, Roman, Middle Eastern and Renaissance herbalists for example often chose plants that resembled a symptom of the illness or the afflicted part of the body they had to treat.[1] In order for the herb to be considered curative, it had to show some effect upon the patient either by altering the actual illness or by altering the perception of that illness.

So this begs the question: what such signs does Cannabis show?

The phytognomonica of Cannabis is up to personal interpretation. The classic writers of phytognomics like Giambattista Porta don’t make much direct mention of it as a medicine. If they did, it is unlikely the mood-altering or elating effect of the resin and leaf would be of much interest to them. This is because the cannabis that grew in and around these colder, more temperate regions where the phytogonomists like Porta wrote knew about it mostly as a hemp source, a means to produce cordage and coarse fabric, not the means to reach that state of inebriation they reach with such products as beer, wine, absinthe, or fermented berries. There was little to no common use of cannabis in most of the temperate zone countries.

For the tropical countries, this fate is different. The tropics gave society numerous plants to be inebriated with, and nature provided the resources to do it with—warm climates. The fermentation induced by nature gave its natives the salap and agave. Nature’s strong climate made for faster growing plants and increased the biological events taking place within every ecosystem. As diversity became high and plant and animal species density followed suit, the thickest forests did wind up producing for mankind some of the most important plants related to hallucinations, changes in mood and mindset. These warmer climate products like the yagi and peyote made for a more risky means for becoming more learned, more gifted in the knowledge about nature’s special secrets.

There are shamans who behave this way in all societies, all cultures, all latitude and longitudinal sections of the world. Only where man did not exist did the shaman not exist as well, or at least not reside there for too long a time. Places where the shaman would be absent from nature are also where we’d expect few plants and animals to be found, although even dirt-ridden, stony patches of land provided some mystics devoted to their philosophy the ways and means to survive and to find these much needed supplied for the other people.

Was there a shaman ever living in the Antarctic? Probably. We know they can live in the Arctic and played some of their most important roles there in the establishment of local culture. The shaman is also very likely to be living atop the highest mountain, at least once or twice in history.

Defining the Shaman.

Most often we stereotype the shaman as one who, for his own invocations, utilized hallucinogens to visualize important messages from the spirits or gods. By interpreting these dreams, he/she learned about important cures to treating whatever ailed their patients. Using the argument of experimentalism based upon religious desire and the quest for knowledge, it becomes clear how and why such a broad understanding of plants came about in primitive cultures and why such diverse cultures developed many of the same practices without having communicated with one another. Plants were the crux of mankind’s survival and thus were made use of in similar ways worldwide. They came to serve in making shelters, fiber products, nutriment, medicines, dyes, weaponry, fishing nets, fishing and hunting poisons, and were an important part of religious sacraments. Regarding the latter, Western American Indians for example profited from the numerous cacti found in their localities that have hallucinogenic effects–the best known of which is Peyote.[2] In Columbia, shamans took advantage of the Yagi drink made from Banisteriopsis caapi, capable of producing the most vivid, colorful hallucinations noted for plants. Virola, a Nutmeg relative, has been a popular South American and Spice Islands mood alterative. Ergot, Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) and Jimsonweed (Datura spp.) have a long history of use by shamans, witches and other spiritualists.[3] As for the Cannabis, members of the Iroquois came to depend upon its as a “psychological aid.”[4]

Plants that served as these religious tokens have also served as medicines in many of these cultures. The shaman or “witch doctor” used them to treat illnesses, to comfort or curse their patients, and/or make new discoveries through contact with the gods. Perhaps it was the possibility of making these discoveries and/or the related mind-altering effects that urged shamans on to continue testing newly discovered plants and as a result discover new plants of ceremonial, medicinal and nutritional value.

According to some historians, the ancient Iranian text Zend-Avesta refers to Cannabis as Haoma and lists it as the first of ten-thousand healing plants.[5] Around the same time the Zend-Avesta was written, many shamans were in search of Soma or an equivalent to it that could serve just as well. The origin of the Soma has been disputed at great lengths by historians and anthropologists. Scholars of both the Eastern and Western Worlds speculate that Haoma may be the first Soma. Soma and Haoma in fact share an etymology leading one to suspect that Cannabis is in fact Soma or “Food for the Gods.” If Soma is equivalent to the Haoma of the Iranian writings, then certainly many of the Middle Eastern writings such as the Rig-Veda which made early reference to Soma may have been referrring to Cannabis. On the other hand, it has also been argued that Soma might be an herb of mythical origin and like many other plants written about in ancient writings such as the Scythian Lamb and Yggdrasil, the tree which binds together Earth, Heaven and Hell, Soma did not exist.[6]

Soma and other spiritual plants appear throughout historical literature. Arabian Nights covers in part the history of Arabia, detailing much of the psychoactive spiritualism that existed as part of the Arabian lifestyle. A fifteenth century record on Chinese shamanism, written by Shen-Nung of the Han Dynasty, briefly mentions the use of Cannabis-derived ta-ma for prolonging life. In Taoism, Cannabis allows the use to forget his or her own consciousness thus allowing for achievement of a higher goal. In yogi, it nutrifies and supports siddhis, spiritual powers that are considered akin to magic. Since the discovery of Cannabis in the New World, the psychoactive principles of Cannabis have lead to its use in performing many ritualistic and/or shamanistic practices. Although Cannabis lacks the long history seen in Old World uses, New World cultures have developed some myths of their own due to Cannabis.

The strong spiritual sense associated with Cannabis use has also brought about numerous fears in both ancient and recent testimonials. The ancient Chinese herbal Pen Ts’ao Chen predicts that the user of Cannabis will come to see the devil; but with continual use this is soon replaced by a more positive spiritual contact. To achieve this ultimate goal of Cannabis use, the user must mix Cannabis with other psychoactives including Mandrake (Mandragora officinalis), Thornapple (Datura sp.), and Acorus root powder. Recently, Western cultures have experimented with some of the same recipes and have associated Cannabis use with providing some form of aphrodisia, a reminder of the Tantric ritual of using it “to promote erotic ecstacy.”[7]

According to many Western scientists, the neurotoxicity of Cannabis is responsible for its repeated use throughout history although not always in the most traditional sense. With the establishment of personal, political, and legal tenets in many industrial nations, Cannabis has developed into a societal legal venture. Whereas in underdeveloped countries its use is more of a normal activity that is often involved with a personal form of health care or shamanism, in more developed countries the shamanistic aspect of Cannabis use is often sacrificed for another more personally guarded attribute–its euphoria.

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Section 2. From Primitive to Renaissance Medicine

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Cannabis has had many uses as a traditional, folk and/or herbal medicine. Cannabis sativa (and C. ruderalis) provided man with food and fiber, and in a few cases (compared to Cannabis indica) served as an herbal medicine. Due to its neurotoxicity, Cannabis indica was more valued for use as an herbal medicine. The earliest suggestion of this attribute perhaps appears in Homer’s Oddessy in which he writes of “nepenthes…(the) assuager of grief.”[8] While grieving in the house of Menelaus, Telemachus received nepenthes from Helen who in turn had been given it by Egyptian Thebes.

Although Cannabis is absent from many Egyptian Papyri, evidence suggests that Egyptians still made ample use of it. Specific reasons for many of its uses relate to astrology, alchemy, and some common folklorish beliefs based upon simple associations made between Cannabis and some common human anatomical features and/or ailments. Medicinal uses of Cannabis found in ancient Egyptian documents include:[9]

“A treatment for the eyes: celery; hemp; is ground and left in the dew overnight. Both eyes of the patient are to be washed with it early in the morning” [Papyrus Ramesseum III (ca. 1700 B.C.), A 26].

(Mix) Hemp and other ingredients, to make a poultice for the toe nail [Papyrus Ebers 1550 B.C., 618]

Around 2737 B.C., Chinese emperor Shen Nung made reference to it in his pharmacy book in which he refers to it as “the Liberator of Sin.” Shen Nung recommended using it to treat “female weakness, gout, rheumatism, malaria, beriberi, constipation and absent-mindedness.”[10] Another ancient use of Cannabis as a medicine is described by Greek historian Herodotus (ca. 500 B.C.). In one of his discussions of Scythian life, he described their use of hemp seeds to produce what was essentially a vapor bath. To accomplish this, they placed a bowl of heated stones made red-hot by fire into a woolen coned-shaped tent. Then the Cannabis seeds were thrown onto these stones thus forming steam and an essence “unsurpassed by any vapour bath one could find in Greece”. Herodotus adds, “The Scythians enjoy it so much that they could howl with pleasure.”[11] Seven hundred years later (ca. 200 A.D.), Hao-tho, in his medical treatise, made one of the earliest references to a related use for the resin–as an anesthetic for surgery.

Aside from ancient hydrotherapy and aromatherapy uses, Cannabis had its applications as an outstanding astrological-, alchemical- and herbal-medicine. According to most astrologers Cannabis is ruled by Saturn but under the influence of Neptune; Alchemists believed Cannabis was strongest in its Mercurial and Sulphur elements but could be converted into Earth if necessary. Early herbalists, theurgians and shamans relied heavily upon the Phytognomonica of Cannabis or its “Doctrine of Signatures,” a belief that would rule supreme in determining the applications for Cannabis for generations to come.

Phytognomonica is the basic doctrine used to explain uses for many of the medicinal plants. It is best defined by a brief definition given to it by many nineteenth century physicians–“Like treats like.” Hairy-leaved plants, for example, were often used to prevent problems associated with the hair such as baldness; moist, slippery plants were used to treat coughs and colds associated with the coughing up phlegm; the reddish-orange discharge of cut Bloodroot signified that it could be used to purify the blood. Rhizomatologists (Root Doctors), herbalists, and early physicians relied heavily upon these associations to determine how to use their herbs. Cannabis has numerous possibilities for it “signatures” which are matched by Galen’s formula for treating patients in reference to the four bodily humours–phlegm, blood, yellow bile, black bile–and by many of the uses given to it prior to the nineteenth century. The resin of Cannabis, for example, is of a dark sanguinous to biliary nature, thus suggesting its use for treating blood-, liver- and gall bladder-related problems. Incidentally, this corresponds with its recommended use by Astrologers for treating Gall diseases, Melancholy (then considered a disease of the Gall Bladder), and Blood disorders.

Renaissance herbalists and doctors of Europe who took on the Galenical ideology of the “four humours” which in turn also related to the four elements–Earth, Air, Fire and Water. For example, Richard Banckes, in his 1525 Herbal, recommended the use of Cannabis as a remedy for fevers by “fret[ting] well his pulse therewith.”[12] Whether he was using it as a cooling herb or as a drying herb for the sweats is uncertain. Later Renaissance herbalists recognized hempseed as being dry and potentially “hurtful to the stomacke and head.”[13] Seventeenth century herbalist Nicolas Culpeper reiterated Roman physician-surgeon Galen’s writings when he wrote of Cannabis: “it consumeth wind.” Not too surprisingly, we see it being referred to in many older herbal preparations for the treatment of lung diseases.

An early description detailing the use of Cannabis as a medicine at length was given by Pliny the Elder (Gaius Plinius Secundus (A.D. 23-79)), a Roman naturalist and early writer of ethnoanthropology. In his works on natural history entitled Naturalis Historia he details the world as a whole along with its numerous natural elements including water, wind, weather, climate, minerals, metals, plants, mythical plants, and animals; and he discusses the natural arts such as the practice of gemology, agriculture, horticulture, wine-making, and herbal medicine. In his Book XX on plants, he gives a description of hemp and some of its medicinal uses:[14]

“Hemp at first grew in the woods, with a darker and rougher leaf. Its seed is said to make the genitals impotent. The juice from it drives out of the ears the worms and any other creature that has entered them, but at the cost of a headache; so potent is its nature that when poured into water it is said to make it coagulate. And so, drunk in their water, it regulates the bowels of beasts of burden. The root boiled in water eases cramped joints, gout too and similar violent pains. It is applied raw to burns, but it is often changed before it gets dry.”

In a later discussion by Pliny, some historians believe he is again referring to Cannabis when he describes “Magical Plants.” Basing his discussion of the words of Pythagoras and Democratus, both “authorities of the Magi,” Pliny speaks of mythical herbs such as aglaophotis, “which received its name from men’s wonder at its magnificent colour…”, “achaemenis…(which) criminals, if they drinbk it in wine, confess all their misdeeds because they suffer from divers phantoms of spirits that haunt them,” “therionara” which according to Democritus numbs all beasts such that they cannot be revived “unless sprinkled with the urine of hyaena,” and gelotophyllis (from the Greek for “leaves of laughter”), an herb that if taken with myrrh and wine will induce all kinds of laughter that persist “until the kernels of pine-nuts are taken with pepper and honey in palm wine.”[15]

The practice of medicine as it was taught by Galen and Hippocrates continued to be practiced well into the Middle Ages although much of these ancient writings became obscured by European beliefs in magic, superstition, demonism, witches and warlocks. At that time, medicine was antipathetic or sympathetic. To treat an animal bite for example, the flesh of its enemy may have been applied to the wound (the antipathy), or the animals teeth (preferably the guilty incisors) were powdered, put into an ointment, and applied to the bite (the sympathy). A rash which occurred due to an exposure to a lacquer, may have been treated by the excrement of an animal, applied as an insult to the ill-abiding spirits and hopefully cause them to leave. To treat a burn from the sun, the roots of a plant growing in the deepest cave might be applied in a liniment form to drive away the heat. With these notions, we can imagine the use of Cannabis as a liniment base for treating headaches induced by drinking a strong hemp potion (as per its sympathy), as a treatment for insect bites (the antipathy of its smelly resin), or as a warming, drying herb (the spirits of its growing conditions) to drive away chills and sweats from fever.

It was during the Middle Ages that religious temples and monastaries became hospitals and patients were cared for by the Sisters of the Congregations. One of the major uses of Cannabis during this time was of the seed of Cannabis sativa to alleviate attacks of gout. Cannabis may have had other uses as well although records for these uses are rare and would most likely be found in home recipe books kept by apothecarians, nurses, and/or maidens.

It was also during the Middle Ages that advances in medicine and the related sciences of pharmacy and chemistry/alchemy shifted to the Middle East. Of Greek influence, the Arabics improved upon the materia medica they were presented by Europe. It is important to note that during this time, Mohammed made his flight from Mecca and that the Moslem religion began to influnce many parts of the Near East, Europe and Africa as they captured lands on these valuable continents. With this spread of knowledge came the spread of discovery. So, by 890 A.D. Abu Bakr Muhammed ibn Zakuriya, or al-Rhazi (Rhazes) came to influence the practice of medicine. In his writings, dated to around 900 A.D., Rhazes wrote about the use of Cannabis noting its efficacy as a cure for Cancer.[16] He added hundreds of new herbs to the materia medica listing and wrote one of the earliest descriptions of small pox and the measles. Rhazes was also one of the first to document pupillary changes due to light, and write about how plants like the Roses “give forth their scent” and so induce hay fever. Another Arabic physician, Ibn Sina (Avicenna, 980-1037), would in a way follow in his footsteps by further detailing the treatments of the various diseases in his Canon. Still several centuries later, Jewish physician Musa Ibn Maimun (Mohammed, 1135-1208) added his knowledge to the medical writings of Arabia as well.

In Asiatic countries, the practice of medicine prior to the Christian Era was primarily the work of Wu or shamans. While Europe was experiencing the Middle Ages, the shamans and doctors (the yi) of Asia began forming separate identities, often with distinct therapeutic goals in mind. Most of the Shamans were dedicated to spiritualism and healing and so began the emphasis of practices such as meditation. Others began an interplay between shamanism and herbalism and thus developed specific remedies that were kept secret. In the Su Wen (Basic Questions) of Huang di nei jing (Yellow Emporer’s Inner Classic, the most ancient of the Chinese medical writings), the practice of shamanism is described:[17]

“I have heard that the ancients treated disease only by transporting the essence and changing the qi. Incantation was sufficient. In recent times to treat disease, poisonous medicines are used internally and the needles and stones externally. The [patient] may or may not get better.”

Despite the different paths later taken by shamans and doctor as health-givers, herbs played an important role in their therapies and at times Cannabis was used in their practice of medicine.

Plants like Cannabis came in use by the Chinese at least as early as the third century B.C. The earliest known Chinese document describing herbal therapies is Wu shier bing fang (Prescriptions for Fifty-two Ailments). It details primarily the ailments and recipes rather than describes the individual herbs. The uses for these medicines were based on chief characteristics such as smell, taste, and texture. The disease was viewed much like it was viewed in Europe during the Middle Ages, i.e. occurring as the result of demons, spirits or ghosts that have occupied the ill. Along with offering medicinal herb(s) to the patient, the doctor or shaman typically performed a ritual and offered an incantation or spell to serve as a discourse against the disease.

When the Later Han Dynasty began (around 25 A.D.), knowledge regarding medications and therapeutics underwent drastic change. Shen nong ben cao jing (Divine Husband’s Classic of Materia Medica) was written by Tao Hong-Jing (452-536 A.D.) which included most of the traditional medicinal herbs in use today by China and is the first known book to specifically cover each of these herbs as a separate entity. It offers 364 entries, essentially representing one herb, animal or mineral medicine for each day of the year. Despite the formidable size for its time, it wasn’t until the late Middle Ages that the truly massive herbals of China were written. Tang Shen-Wei’s Zheng lei ben cao, (Materia Medica According to Pattern), circa 1108 A.D., covered over 1500 medicines; in 1596 A.D., Li Shi-Zhen’s Ben cao gang mu (Grand Materia Medica) covered nearly 2000 substances. By this time, Cannabis had become a permanent part of the Oriental herbal and had a specific use that, although different from its earlier uses by shamans, became a permanent part of Oriental medicine.

In Japan, a traditional form of medicine known as Kampo medicine was developing as its own entity whilst the dismallness of the Middle Ages maintained control of Europe. Following the Korean invasion in 593 A.D., Japanese Empress Suiko was inspired by Chinese practitioners so as to integrate their ideology into Japanese medicine. During previous years, Japanese medicine was practiced little by a doctor but rather depended upon the Buddhist priests as a form of shamanism. Over the next two centuries following the Korean invasion, the Buddhists priests of Japan began to integrate parts of the Chinese practice into their own health care regimens. As a result, incantations and prayers were supplemented by herbalism, the five elements theory, the qi, the yin, and the yang. By the Heian Period (794-1192 A.D.) Chinese writings entered into Japanese texts and the oldest known Japanese medical text Isshino (The Way of Medicine) was revised. The Monk or Priest then began to practice herbal medicine, incorporating many of China’s medicines into the traditional Japanese regimens. As Cannabis came to be used as a medicine during this time, it became known as Mashinin.[18]

The use of Cannabis as a medicine in the Orient has continued to present day Chinese and Japanese (Kampo) medicine. Many of the uses of Cannabis overlapped with those of other cultures around the world including India and the United States. The re-emergence of Europe following the Middle Ages laid to rest the absence of discovery by doctors in European countries. The Orient, along with Europe, continued to make headway in medicine. During the Renaissance and Colonial periods many of their empirical findings would remain uncommunicated to the Western civilizations or ignored. Conclusions based on the extensiveness of their empirical data would not reach Europe or North America for another four hundred years when Oriental medicine was re-introduced to Western medicine (along with other forms of alternative medicine) during the early nineteenth century.

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REFERENCES

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This doctrine, known as “the Doctrine of Signatures,” is found in early Greek and Roman writings although the first to document it and ascribe to it a name was Johannis Baptista della Porta in his book Phytognomica. This belief was later described in an English herbal by Nicolas Culpeper in which it was referred to using today’s accepted term “the Doctrine of Signatures”.

A review of standard dictionaries and encyclopedias reveals that several other Cacti were used for some form of shamanism including Ariocarpus, Epithelantha, Pachycereus, Selenicereus and Trichocereus.

Interestingly, many of these plants along with Hops Vine (Humulus lupulus), Serpent Vine, (Aristolochia sp.), Poppy, Galbulimima, Mulberry (Morus sp.), and Upas tree (Antiaris sp.), are all closely related and appear at the base of the Dicotyledonae (the Witchhazel-Magnolia-Buttercup complex). Their primitive evolutionary basis quickly led to their success as they developed these toxins from simple amino acids, alkyl amines, and in some cases sesquiterpenes.